Forever 18 - A Kasey Keller Story

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Well... first steps, so it might be normal to test players to find those who fit better. I guess Bayern came too soon. No one can blame you for the early exit, since you didn't play the previous games, but it is evident that the team has the level to go further.

No one can blame you for the early exit, since you didn't play the previous games, but it is evident that the team has the level to go further.

Thanks for the kind words mate!
I feel we could still grow indeed, the potential is there... And I also feel we should've done a little better this month already, to be honest.
The defeat against Bayern truly showed our limits: for example, both Mandžukić and Fernando Torres were abysmal against their former club. Clumsy, slow, totally lacking any kind of accuracy (once again I'm probably the one to blame here)... And a couple of draws in the league shouldn't really have happened (at least, not suffering like we did with Rayo at least).
It doesn't look like the table suffered that much from it though:

I still have plans for the winter transfer session: the squad is good but lacks a first team quality right winger and a couple of backups at the back (we're lacking some depth there).
I've had my scouts follow three or four players that could really help us make the leap, let's see if we can sign at least a couple of them. I also already found a couple of players that could be axed should we need funds.

The league title race is open. There are like 12 teams in 6 points though, so any error cost you positions, but at the end it will be a matter of 3 or 4 rivals. Not having the Champions league, you can focus in the main target... at least for some UEL games.

Not having the Champions league, you can focus in the main target... at least for some UEL games.

Well, especially because apparently we've been not-so-gently kicked out of the Copa del Rey by Villarreal:

Meanwhile, we've already moved a little on the market and our first signing arrived just after the first leg of the cup. The right winger Iñaki Williams indeed joined from Athletic Bilbao in the very first days of the transfer window. He's currently not really on par with the rest of the attack, but I'm confident he'll get there soon enough:

Needless to say, as a right winger was needed badly, he got in the action straight away, deciding the match with a goal and an assist on his league debut against CD Lugo:

With the transfer window being still far from its end, we will now try and add a couple of 'depth' players at the back.

The month goes on, and Atlético suffer their first defeat in the league with Keller as a manager... Against Keller's former team no less:

While it doesn't really look like a result to be proud of, we must at least acknowledge that Levante are having a great season and are currently 6th.

On the market, there are a couple of moves, one of which features a legend leaving for good. Emanuel Emenike never really managed to find his space at Atlético and the arrival of Vietto, with the return of Fernando Torres, reduced his chances even more. So, off to Fenerbahçe he goes.

Now the matches against Sevilla and Barcelona will be key to understand whether Atlético could really fight for the title, or not.

So Real are a bit ahead (considering the games in hand) but you're on second place. Plenty to play for I'd say, though the Europa League knockout stages are more intensive to your program because it involves two games more, than the Champions League knockouts. But you're well underway to qualifying for next season's Champions League one way or another...

Thanks man! We started with a bang, that's true, but now things start getting hard. Let's see what Keller can do with Atlético. There should be enough to keep the board happy, even if I feel I must win at least one of the two competitions we're still running for... At the very least.

However the early exit in the Copa was ugly... not the most important title and allows you to rest players, but it's not nice to lose titles.

Definitely. I can't define the board "happy" with the early exit from the cup, but maybe we could have them forgive us if we win either the La Liga title or the UEL one. By the way, Williams was badly needed as I didn't have anyone in the RW position, but... We also had to say 'goodbye' to the most promising player we had upfront, in this transfer window. Jackson Martínez hasn't really impressed me during these two and a half months at Atlético, so when Real asked for his availability... I decided to let him go.

We also managed to grab Alessio Romagnoli on loan from Milan, just in case. Depth is depth after all and it's what we missed at the back. I'm pretty sure Alessio will be an important addition, as we only have two first-team quality centre backs and the two subs aren't really up to par yet. He's also not really on the same level as Giménez and Savić but he would come in handy anyway.

Jackson Martinez to Real... Madrid?
There are quite a few Real around.

Oh well, my fault. It's Real Madrid indeed.
We are used to say just 'Real' if it's Real Madrid, 'Betis' (or even 'Betis Sevilla' at times) if it's Real Betis and 'Real Sociedad' if... Well, you understood me.
So yes, it's Real Madrid in this case.

Meanwhile, another month has passed and it looks like we've decided to brake a little in the league:

Mario Mandžukić got injured during the first half of the match against Eibar, and he had to leave the pitch holding his shoulder swearing in pain. It's likely that he'll be out for the entire month.
Things went a little differently in the Europa League at least, where with a win away from home and with a draw in Madrid we managed to advance past Ajax:

Now we'll have to face Tottenham Hotspur for the round of 16, hopefully we could get something good from that draw even if it won't be easy.

Edit: I see there are several typos in the pics... Sorry for that.
Unfortunately I don't store .psd files for every single match as it would be an overkill, so they can't really be fixed anymore. I'll pay more attention from now on.

The league results are too irregular. Two home draws like this, especially the one vs Eibar hurt.

Yeah, it's my problem with FIFA 16 I guess, I go through periods in which I manage not to concede but I also score once in a blue moon. I mean, in my Como career last year I had a month in which I conceded one goal and scored once.

Yes. Definitely in a position to fight for the title. Obviously Barcelona and Madrid are stronger, so the third position is logical after all. Now it's a matter of seeing if Atleti can be over the expectations... that is, beat the neighbour.

Now it's a matter of seeing if Atleti can be over the expectations... that is, beat the neighbour.

Well, apparently this is now our only seasonal objective left... We got kicked out of the UEL by Tottenham Hotspur, so...

My fault, most likely. I conceded the equalizer following a counter when I was 1-0 up and pushing for the 2-0, that would have meant advancing without resorting to extra time.
I should've settled for those additional 30 minutes of play and should really have avoided rushing things, leaving the team open to counters.

This early exit in the UEL is painful. Surely Spurs are one of the worst rivals you could meet in the competition, but Atleti should have resources to beat them. You were ambitious and you failed... well, sometimes it happens.

I don't know if it will have consequences for your future career in the club, although I can imagine that they wanted you to take the team way further.

Yeah, we should've settled for the 1-0 and for the extra time probably. I misread the situation perhaps, thinking "screw that, we're going for that 2-0 goal so we wouldn't have to play the extra time three days before facing Real Madrid". It serves me well I suppose.

Great results there... except for this defeat at Mestalla, but the victory in the Bernabeu is a great achievement! There are matches which are more than three points, and you showed your best face there. A victory against Real Madrid tastes great, right?

Shame about going out of Europe although it looks like you bounced back well and that Madrid derby victory could be what you need to win the league.

Yeah, we've been a little too presumptuous maybe wanting to end the match against Tottenham in the 90 minutes and, well, it happened indeed but not in the way we would've wanted. We definitely bounced back properly though: Barcelona are doing a great season though after a disastrous start and it will definitely be hard to overtake them again, but the win aginst Real Madrid kept us at least in the race.

Well, it depends on Cerezo after all... He said we would've been discussing the contract extension in case of a top three finish, and that the extension would've been granted only by winning the league... Let's see!